Automatic hod carrier



Oct. 11, 1960 Fiied Feb. 7, 1957 E. L. OATMAN AUTOMATIC HOD CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ELMER L. OAT/WAN AGE/VT Oct. 11, 1960 E. OATMAN 2,955,716

AUTOMATIC HOD CARRIER Filed Feb. 7, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 u /6 G 7V INVENTOR.

ELMER L. OAT/WAN AGE/VT United States Patent "ice AUTOMATIC HOD CARRIER Elmer L. Oatman, 3904 Davila Drive, Dallas, Tex., assignor of one-half to Thomas J. Short, Dallas, Tex.

Filed Feb. 7, 1957, Ser. No. 638,710

2 Claims. (Cl. 212-91) This invention relates generally to the building trades and more particularly to a device for use by masonry trade personnel to facilitate their operations.

The primary object of this invention is therefore to provide a device to permit a brick masons helper by means of this automatic hod carrier to stock a greater 2,955,716 Patented Oct. 11, 1960 spaced sheaves 7 and 8 for guiding chain 9 of a power lift means indicated generally at 10. By means of the basically described structure, a load L having a lift eye 11 for engagement by hook 12 may be lifted vertically by lift means 10 to a predetermined height and upon continued application of power in the same direction will be transported laterally above and across platform P of scafiold S to a predetermined point whereat reversal of the direction of application of power will cause the load to be deposited on the platform in a manner herein described.

Examining the subassemblies in more detail it will be observed that the main frame 3 includes four vertical posts 15, each including a grooved wheel 16 at the lower end thereof which is journalled on a shaft 17 of a depending yoke 18 so that when the groove 19 of wheel 16 engages rail 20 the entire assembly 2 may be easily and manually moved longitudinally along platform P. For the purposes of this specification any reference to a longitudinal direction when referring to the frame will correspond to the longitudinalv direction of the platform P, which in Fig. 1 would be going into the sheet. Similarly, any reference to a lateral direction in the frame means at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the platform even though the dimensions of the frame shown would not correspond to the conventional lateral and longitudinal definitions if the frame were examined separately A still further object is to provide an automatic hod carrier unit which may be positioned on the helpers plat-- form and which will extend beyond one side thereof so that a lift hook may be lowered to the ground to engage and lift a prepared pallet load of block or brick and deposit the load on the brick masons material board by an automatic spotting mechanism therein.

And another object is to provide an automatic hod carrier unit which may be moved lengthwise of the helpers platform to service several variously spaced masons material boards in the manner above.

And yet another object is to provide a simple, easy to operate, pallet lifting and placing device which will be extremely effective for the purposes intended.

And a still further object is to provide a pallet lifting and placing device which will automatically lift a loaded pallet vertically to a perdetermined height and then automatically cause it to move laterally from its initial position to a predetermined lateral position all in response to engaging the forward movement control, and thereafter to back up slightly and lower at said lateral position in response to engaging the rear movement control.

These and other objects and advantages will be apparent from an examination of the following specification and drawing in which:

Fig. 1 represents a side elevational View of the complete automatic hod carrier of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the device in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the device shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view of the trip and release mechanism of the travellingcarrier of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference in the drawing, the complete automatic hod carrier assembly of this invention, indicated generally at 2, is seen to consist basically of a movable frame 3 including an elongated track 4 for supporting and guiding the top of a travelling carrier unit 5, the lower end of which is guided in rail 6 and which includes a pair of vertically of the platform.

The upper end of posts 15 are joined by channels 21 and the basic framework is braced by struts 22 and 23, the latter also engaging top beams 24. Track 4 extends centrally across the frame 3 and beyond and it attached to the underside of channels 21. Guide rail 6 is spaced vertically below track 4 and for the most part extends parallel to it' and terminates at post 15. Guide rail 6 actually consists of two individual channels 25 which include a right angle bend in a downward direction at their initial end 26, which end is then braced from post 15 by bar or angle 27.

Travelling carriage 5 includes an overhead monorail type roller yoke 28 including rollers 29 journalled therein which ride on the lower flange 30 of I-beam track 4. An A-frame 31 is pivoted at 32 tothe bottom of yoke 28, and is pivoted at 33 at its lower end to a dolly 34 which includes a rear end roller structure 35 pivoted thereto at 36 and having rollers 37 engaging the rail guides formed by channels 25. Lower guide sheave 8 is journalled about pivot shaft 33 and upper stop sheave 7 is journalled on shaft 38 which spans the distance d between side plates 39 of A-frame 31.

Lift means 10 includes a reversible electric motor 40 supported by mount 41 from the terminal end of track 4, and includes a link chain 9 which extends substantially horizontal from motor 40 to A-frame 31 and is then threaded over and counterclockwise about upper sheave 7 and then down and clockwise about lower sheave 8 and then downward to hook 12. A distance above hook 12, an enlarged ball 43 of rope or fiber material, known in the trade as a rat-hea is formed on chain 9. This ball 43 together with sheave 7 and straps 39 of A-frarne 31,

form a stop means to prevent any further upward pull on the chain 9 due to the fact that the diameter d of ball 43 is larger than the distance d between straps 39.

Thus when motor 40 is turning in a forward direction to reel in chain 9, the load L suspended from hook 12 will be lifted vertically until such a point that ball 43 is abutted against straps 39, and thereafter any further pull on chain 9 will overcome the resistance of counterweight 44, which in this embodiment is a heavy wheel about which additional weight may be suspended if required for proper balance. Once this resistance of counterweight 44 is overcome, any further tension on the V horizontal portion of chain 9 will cause rollers 37 to track up and around the radius of end 26 and the A-frame 31 and dolly 34 making up carriage will be propelled laterally across frame 3 while maintaining rolling contact with track 4 and nail 6. This lateral travel continues until the leading roller 37 of roller structure 35 contacts balanced lever 46 of trip mechanism 47 on rail 25 and passes slightly beyond. Motor 40 is stopped before the second roller 37" has moved beyond lever 46, so that lever 46 at this point is inclined substantially. If motor 40 is then reversed, roller 37 will back into cup 48 and lock lever 46 and consequently the entire carriage 5 at this pre-determined position. This action is possible because pivot 49 is so spaced relative to the upper length of lever 46 and the spacing of rollers 37 that the'lever 46 does not have the ability to flop back to its upright position if motor 40 is stopped before roller 37" has passed beyond. Any further reversing of motor 40 by conventional hand control 50 will cause chain 9 and load L to lower onto platform P. After hook 12 is disconnected from eye 11 of load binder 51, the motor 40 is operated in its forward direction again until ball 43 hits its stop and then carriage 5 moves forward until roller 37 has passed completely beyond lever 46, at which point the lever uprights itself, and then motor 40 may be reversed to cause carriage 5 and both rollers 37 to pass over and beyond lever 46 and return to its initial starting position all due to the urging of tension spring 55 which is anchored at 56 on channel 21 and connected in operating relation with cable 57 which is dead-ended on yoke 31 at 58 after being reeved about guide pulleys 59 of T-frame 60 at the initial end of track 4.

The rails 25 are constructed of inwardly facing channels to receive the rollers 37 at each end of the roller structure 35 (see Figs. 1 and 3). In its center, structure 35 includes bracket members (shown in Fig. 1, but not separately numbered) to support the counterweight 44 which is shown as a non-functional sheave, but may be any heavy article supported simultaneously from the structure 35 and the far end of the dolly frame (34), the other end of the dolly frame (34) being journalled to the functional sheave 8. It will be observed that as the upper end of A-frame 31 is pulled in either direction it is guided at its upper end by yoke 28, but its lower end including sheave 8 has a limited freedom of movement which is somewhat restricted by the rollers 37 which must follow the channels 25. The pivotal connection of dolly frame 34 with lower sheave 8 by means of pin or shaft 33 will cause the dolly 34 and its counterweight 44 to track along behind (or forward) of A-frame 31. When the frame 31 is to be pulled toward the motor end of the rail 4, and the dolly 34 is in its initial and inclined position as shown in Fig. l, the weight of member 44 will offer sufficient resistance to the entire carrier unit 5 to prevent any movement until the rat-head 43 has reached its uppermost position, after which any further pull on the chain 9 will cause the entire carrier unit 5 to travel toward the motor 40. When the carrier unit 5 is moving away from the motor 40 under the action of spring 55, the rollers 37 will track down and around the curved end 26 of the rails 25 until the tension of spring is equalized by the resistance of the angled downward position of dolly frame 34 and this provides a positioning point for picking up a new load L. Any further reversal of motor 40 will then cause the chain 9 to lower to the load L.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that there has been produced a device which substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein. The invention is not limited to the exemplary constructions herein shown and described, but may be made in many ways within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic hod carrier assembly comprising: a frame, a straight track extending laterally across said frame, a guide rail curved downward at its initial end and extending in the same direction as said track, a carriage positioned partly in said track and partly in said rail and in sliding relation with both, said carriage comprising an upper frame suspended from said track and a dolly riding in said rail, a counterweight on said dolly, said dolly being pivoted to said upper frame whereby it may follow the curvature of said rail when said upper frame moves along said track, lift means in said assembly and guided through said carriage to engage a load for vertical lifting, stop means at a predetermined point in said lift means to prevent further vertical lifting movement and convert the lifting force into a lateral pulling force and to overcome the resistance of said counterweight when the said dolly is in the curved portion of said rail.

2. Inan automatic hod carrier assembly having a carriage and a guide rail, a trip means comprising: a pair of spaced rollers supporting said carriage in said rail, a vertical weighted lever pivoted to said rail in the path of said rollers, the length of said lever being so proportioned relative to the spacing of said rollers that when said first roller passes over said lever and stops the lever may not return to its vertical position until the second roller has passed beyond the said lever a sufiicient distance to permit the lever to pivot back to its vertical position,

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 257,128 Beckert Apr. 25, 1882 402,016 Green Apr. 23, 1889 478,348 Miller July 5, 1892 582,482 Norton May 11, 1897 FOREIGN PATENTS 485,011 Germany Oct. 24, 1929 

